Patents by Inventor Richard P. Lewis

Richard P. Lewis has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11786085
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for dispensing of paper products. A paper product dispenser comprising a housing comprising a back, two sides, and a product holding area defined by the back and two sides, wherein each of the two sides includes a vertical track and wherein one of the two sides is movably attached to the housing; and a support device configured to movably engage the vertical tracks of the first and second sides and to support a first roll and a second roll, vertically offset from one another, in the product holding area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: KIMBERLY-CLARK WORLDWIDE, INC.
    Inventors: Richard P. Lewis, Eric M. Chalko, Anita Neidert
  • Patent number: 11723495
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for dispensing of paper products. A dispenser comprising a housing comprising a product holding area defined by a front, back and two sides, and a dispenser throat defining an opening through the housing; a motor coupled to the rolled product and configured to rotate the rolled product in first and second directions; and a feed mechanism having a first side opening and a second side opening different from the first side opening, wherein both the first side and second side openings are different from that dispenser throat, and wherein the first side opening is configured to accept the tail when the rolled product has a first orientation and is rotated in the first direction and the second side opening is configured to accept the tail when the rolled product has a second orientation and is rotated in the second direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard P. Lewis, I-Chung Hou, Wan-Chih Lin, Ming-Chung Chung, Chih-An Chen, Wan-Chang Liang, Chan-Hao Chen, Huang-Keng Chen, Ching-Lung Mao, Wei-Ming Huang
  • Publication number: 20230157491
    Abstract: A dispenser for sheet materials is disclosed. The dispenser includes indexing mechanism and stop release member for dispensing a selected size of sheet material. The indexing mechanism includes an extension spring for dispensing a tail of sheet material from the dispenser. In embodiments, the dispenser includes a drive roller capable of rotating the indexing mechanism when a user removes the sheet material from the dispenser. The drive roller is prevented from rotating when the stop member engages stop release member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 27, 2020
    Publication date: May 25, 2023
    Inventor: Richard P. Lewis
  • Publication number: 20230130085
    Abstract: A dispenser is disclosed that facilitates loading of new rolls of material and the removal of empty cores. The dispenser includes a cradle roller spaced from a pair of abutment rollers. As a roll of material is dispensed, the diameter of the roll reduces causing the roll to drop from the cradle roller to a collection device. A transfer assembly pivots with the roll so that the sheet material continues to be dispensed from the dispenser without interruption. Once the roll of material drops to the collection device, a new roll of material can be loaded into the dispenser for automatic transfer to the new roll once the first roll of material has been completely depleted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2020
    Publication date: April 27, 2023
    Inventors: Richard P. Lewis, Edward A. Raleigh, Jeffrey J. Brickl, Matthew T. Woerpel, Robert Godfrey
  • Publication number: 20230056982
    Abstract: A dispenser and methods for dispensing web material, the dispenser comprising a dispensing mechanism comprising a pressure roller and a drive roller defining a nip therebetween, wherein the dispensing mechanism is configured to dispense the web material from the roll of web material in response to a user request, and wherein during the dispense a leading edge of the web material being dispensed first passes through the nip and then passes the tear bar and then out of the housing such that the leading edge is external to the housing; a jam sensor configured to detect a jam condition during or after the dispense of the web material; and wherein, in response to a jam condition, the dispensing mechanism is configured to (i) retract the web material to place the leading edge between the nip and the tear bar and (ii) then advance the leading edge past the tear bar.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2020
    Publication date: February 23, 2023
    Inventor: Richard P. Lewis
  • Publication number: 20220346606
    Abstract: Electronic towel dispensers and methods of operation disclosed. In one embodiment, a towel dispenser for dispensing web material from a roll of web material may comprise a housing comprising a back panel and a front cover and having an internal volume so as to retain at least one roll of web material therein, an electronically powered dispensing mechanism contained within the housing for dispensing web material from the roll of web material upon actuation of said dispensing mechanism, a tear bar disposed within the housing, the tear bar comprising a tear bar back edge and a tear bar cutting edge, and a tear bar actuator coupled to the tear bar and configured to move the tear bar between a tear bar primary position and a tear bar secondary position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2019
    Publication date: November 3, 2022
    Inventor: Richard P. Lewis
  • Publication number: 20220218162
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for dispensing of paper products. A paper product dispenser comprising a housing comprising a back, two sides, and a product holding area defined by the back and two sides, wherein each of the two sides includes a vertical track and wherein one of the two sides is movably attached to the housing; and a support device configured to movably engage the vertical tracks of the first and second sides and to support a first roll and a second roll, vertically offset from one another, in the product holding area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2019
    Publication date: July 14, 2022
    Inventors: Richard P. Lewis, Eric M. Chalko, Anita Neidert
  • Publication number: 20220192439
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for dispensing of paper products. A dispenser comprising a housing comprising a product holding area defined by a front, back and two sides, and a dispenser throat defining an opening through the housing; a motor coupled to the rolled product and configured to rotate the rolled product in first and second directions; and a feed mechanism having a first side opening and a second side opening different from the first side opening, wherein both the first side and second side openings are different from that dispenser throat, and wherein the first side opening is configured to accept the tail when the rolled product has a first orientation and is rotated in the first direction and the second side opening is configured to accept the tail when the rolled product has a second orientation and is rotated in the second direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2019
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventors: Richard P. Lewis, I-Chung Hou, Wan-Chih Lin, Ming-Chung Chung, Chih-An Chen, Wan-Chang Liang, Chan-Hao Chen, Huang-Keng Chen, Ching-Lung Mao, Wei-Ming Huang
  • Publication number: 20220192440
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for dispensing of paper products. A paper product dispenser comprising a housing comprising a product holding area configured to hold a roll; a rotating member configured to rotate, in a first direction, in response to rotation of the roll; a cutting surface in the housing; a cutting blade coupled to the rotating member and having a first position, and a second position in which the cutting blade is in contact with the cutting surface, wherein the rotating member is configured to (i) move the cutting blade from the first position to the second position during a first portion of a rotation cycle of the roll in the first direction and (ii) move the cutting blade from the second position to the first position during a second portion of the rotation cycle of the roll in the first direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2020
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventors: Richard P. Lewis, Matthew T. Woerpel, Jeffrey J. Brickl, Edward A. Raleigh, Robert J. Godfrey, Blake Wagner, Morgan Lowery, Gregory J. Hallingstad, Chad N. Klink, Luke J. Sackash
  • Patent number: 11337567
    Abstract: A dispenser for dispensing a roll of material is disclosed. The dispenser includes a rear housing and an openable cover. The rear-housing includes a roll transfer apparatus for transferring the roll of material from a first dispensing position to a second dispensing position. The roll transfer apparatus includes a transfer arm engaged with a transfer disk and a transfer latch capable of engaging and disengaging the transfer disk to facilitate movement of the roll of material from a first dispensing position to a second dispensing position. Also disclosed are methods for replacing a roll of material in a dispenser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard P. Lewis, Edward A. Raleigh, Jeffrey J. Brickl, Matthew T. Woerpel, Robert Godfrey
  • Publication number: 20210345840
    Abstract: A dispenser for dispensing a roll of material is disclosed. The dispenser includes a rear housing and an openable cover. The rear-housing includes a roll transfer apparatus for transferring the roll of material from a first dispensing position to a second dispensing position. The roll transfer apparatus includes a transfer arm engaged with a transfer disk and a transfer latch capable of engaging and disengaging the transfer disk to facilitate movement of the roll of material from a first dispensing position to a second dispensing position. Also disclosed are methods for replacing a roll of material in a dispenser.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2020
    Publication date: November 11, 2021
    Inventors: Richard P. Lewis, Edward A. Raleigh, Jeffrey J. Brickl, Matthew T. Woerpel, Robert Godfrey
  • Patent number: 11159551
    Abstract: The described technologies leverage a trained evaluation function to analyze an email message to determine if a password is included in the text of the email message. The text of the email message may be vectorized using a character lookup table including vector values for each ASCII character. The trained evaluation function analyzes the vectorized text to determine if a password is included in the text of the mail message. An email message found to include a password may be placed in a quarantine storage to at least temporality prevent the email message from being disseminated to a recipient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Richard P. Lewis, Arvindnarayanan Ravi, Daniel L. Mace, Jordan Wesley Rogers, Manas George, Wing Kwong Wan, Yogesh K. Roy
  • Publication number: 20200336501
    Abstract: The described technologies leverage a trained evaluation function to analyze an email message to determine if a password is included in the text of the email message. The text of the email message may be vectorized using a character lookup table including vector values for each ASCII character. The trained evaluation function analyzes the vectorized text to determine if a password is included in the text of the mail message. An email message found to include a password may be placed in a quarantine storage to at least temporality prevent the email message from being disseminated to a recipient.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2019
    Publication date: October 22, 2020
    Inventors: Richard P. LEWIS, Arvindnarayanan RAVI, Daniel L. MACE, Jordan Wesley ROGERS, Manas GEORGE, Wing Kwong WAN, Yogesh K. ROY
  • Publication number: 20140101673
    Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards scheduling computing task execution by dynamically evaluating dependencies between computing tasks. After executing independent computing tasks in parallel, one or more dependent tasks are scheduled for execution. Unless a task failed, dependencies between remaining tasks are examined to identify one or more computing tasks that do not correspond to a dependency and/or one or more computing tasks that depend upon successfully completed tasks. Dynamic dependency evaluation may be applied to improve self-healing task execution.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2012
    Publication date: April 10, 2014
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Andriy Klyuchevskyy, Richard P. Lewis
  • Patent number: 7946522
    Abstract: An electronic dispenser for dispensing a measured sheet from a roll of web material includes a passive, self-discharging static charge dissipating material configured with at least one component of the dispenser that stores static charge generated by operation of the dispenser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2011
    Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard P. Lewis, Paul Tramontina
  • Patent number: 7900864
    Abstract: An electronic dispenser for dispensing a measured sheet from a roll of web material includes a passive, self-discharging static charge dissipating material configured with at least one component of the dispenser that stores static charge generated by operation of the dispenser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2011
    Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard P. Lewis, Paul Tramontina
  • Patent number: 7789927
    Abstract: A portable partition system includes an air permeable nonwoven sheet material as the primary isolation material. An elongated support member with an attachment device are used to erect the sheet material. The attachment device includes a head with opposed separable clamping surfaces having a hook material provided thereon. The sheet material is inserted between the clamping surfaces so as to be engaged directly by the hook material on opposite sides of the sheet material upon erecting the system into a portable partition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2010
    Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventors: Paul F. Tramontina, Richard P. Lewis, Jeffrey J. Krueger, Charles H. Goerg, Frances W. Mayfield, Ann L. McCormack, Jacqueline B. Martin, David Lilley
  • Patent number: 7527178
    Abstract: An electronic self contained viscous liquid dispenser includes a housing defining an internal liquid reservoir. A dispensing pump mechanism is carried by the housing and disposed in liquid communication with the reservoir. The pump mechanism has a delivery end disposed for delivering metered doses of viscous liquid from the reservoir. A mounting assembly is configured for mounting on a supporting wall structure, with the housing being releasably attachable to the mounting assembly. An electronic actuating mechanism is carried by the mounting assembly and includes a motor driven actuator that engages with the pump mechanism upon insertion of the housing into the mounting assembly. A motor and associated power supply circuitry is carried by the mounting assembly, with the motor being in driving engagement with the motor driven actuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2009
    Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventor: Richard P. Lewis
  • Patent number: D728966
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard P. Lewis, Charles P. Davis, Joel Keily, Orlando P. Ochoa, Sr.
  • Patent number: D735490
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: KIMBERLY-CLARK WORLDWIDE, INC.
    Inventors: Richard P. Lewis, Charles P. Davis, Joel Keily, Orlando P. Ochoa, Sr.